This afternoon we went to the Sanjay Ghandi National Park and spent some time climbing up and around a few of the 109 caves where Buddhist acharyas lived and worked. The Kanheri caves were constructed between the 1st century B.C. and the 11th century A.D. They are indeed at the top of a mountain! The monks would carve out a small cave for themselves where they would live and work and then expand one or more of them to be used for worship, study, or meditation. While it is possible to visit all 109 caves, I was quite satisfied (and very winded) after visiting about 10 of them. It was quite a climb on a relatively cool and nicely breezy Saturday afternoon.

However, the smog in and around central India is just horrendous. It has been getting worse day by day and blowing my nose is now a “don’t look at the result” experience. I’ve no idea when this situation will clear out, but it doesn’t look to be happening while we are here.

Yesterday we drove a couple of hours east of Mumbai into the mountains to Lonavala. Unfortunately, the smog took away most of the views which, on a fairly clear day, must be quite spectacular. We spent the night in a resort hotel in Lonavala before coming back to Mumbai this morning.

I have hundreds of pictures. Now I just need to decide how and what to do with them.

Tomorrow is a quiet day. We’ll go to Church in the morning and be here at the apartment the rest of the day. On Monday we fly to New Delhi where we’ll stay two nights. On Tuesday we’ll take the train to Agra and back to see the Taj Mahal. Wednesday afternoon we fly back to Mumbai. Thursday evening late we board a Delta flight to London and then on to Atlanta and our India adventure will finish. Way too soon!

We’re loving life!